


Blind Date

by house_of_lantis



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Military Backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:19:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/house_of_lantis/pseuds/house_of_lantis
Summary: Post-military service AU: Steve/BuckyPROMPT 3: I reserved a table for one as part of my “join the world as a civilian” plan but the hostess said that someone with my name is already there…and oh boy, fake me is hot.PROMPT 4: I walked into this restaurant and you thought I was your blind date and I just kind of went with it because you’re gorgeous and nervous and I didn’t want to eat aloneAuthor's Note: I combined these two prompts together.





	Blind Date

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally part of my Marvel one-shot collection of fics (now deleted).

Transitioning back into the civilian world was harder than the support group at the VA reported. Bucky thought that they were probably trying to be positive and optimistic, not wanting to scare him off from making his first attempt.

The support group leader kept talking about taking small steps, making a realistic milestone and reaching for it, and if he couldn’t quite get there, it was the “getting there” part that was worth it.

_“It’s the journey, not just the destination,” Sam said, at their group meetings. “And don’t beat yourself up if you have a hard time even making that first step; the fact that you’re even trying, you have to give yourself some credit for that. The rest is follow-through, and all of you know how to do that. You can do it in a field of battle, following through when the shit’s going down, when your CO gets shot, when your team is pinned down and you have to make that run as decoy to buy your team a few precious seconds.”_

Bucky much preferred that than walking into the veteran-friendly restaurant that Sam’s friend, oddly named Thor Odinson, owned. “Hammer” was a weird name for a restaurant, but to each their own, Bucky thought.

The restaurant was located just a few blocks from the VA Center, and Sam and Thor were running buddies. When Sam had told Thor about how hard it was for returning soldiers finding safe, vet-friendly places, Thor immediately made “Hammer” a place where vets could learn to get their civilian feet wet. Thor employed a number of former vets in his restaurant; and he flew the American flag as well as a number of Nordic national flags outside of his cozy downtown place.

Bucky shoved his hands into his jacket pocket and took a deep breath, taking a step towards the heavy looking wood and glass doors. He reached out and tugged the door open, the sudden flood of noise – people talking, laughing, music playing in the background, the clink of glasses – overwhelming Bucky’s senses. He nearly took a step back and out into the street, but the perky young Maitre’D saw him and smiled, waving for him to come towards her podium.

“Hi! I’m Darcy, welcome to Hammer! Do you have a reservation?”

Bucky looked around, a bit wide-eyed, and he shook his head. “No—no reservation. I just…Sam said to come…”

“Oh! Did Sam Wilson send you?” She said, her expression less perky and more friendly and compassionate. “How about if I set you up at the bar for a mo and then I’ll find you a quiet table if you’re ready?”

“Thank you,” he said, nodding quickly.

“Follow me,” she said, looking over at the bar and seeing that it wasn’t quite full up yet. “I see a spot with your name on it.”

He trailed after her through a friendly crowd that parted for them without too much trouble. A moment later, Bucky was parked on a comfortable leather stool with Darcy putting a bar menu in his hand. She waved to get the bartender’s attention, pointing at Bucky, and then making an “OK” with her fingers.

“The bartender’s name is Clint; he’ll be with you in half a sec. Holler at me if you need anything, got it?”

Bucky grinned and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good,” she said, winking at him and then sauntered off back to her place at the front of the lobby.

“Hey. Jimmy?”

No one called him Jimmy; who would know him here? He turned to the sound of a low, masculine voice, and looked up to see a very handsome man smiling shyly at him. He had dark blond hair, cut in a style that was one-time military but had grown out, and he was built like an athlete, wide shoulders and lean muscles. His dark blue sleeves were rolled back up to his elbows and Bucky stared at the long ropes of veins under tanned skin.

“Uh…hi?”

“I’m Steve?” He said, expectantly. His eyes were blue and he stared at Bucky like he should know what to do next.

“I’m Bucky.”

“Not Jimmy?”

Bucky shrugged. “First name’s James, but no one calls me that. They all call me Bucky.”

“Bucky. I like it.” Steve smiled, taking a deep breath and sinking down on the leather stool beside him. “Thank goodness. I was walking around like some loaf and asking people if their name was ‘Jimmy.’ I’m pretty sure everyone here thinks I was trying to hit on them or something. The security guy was starting to give me the eye, if you know what I mean.”

Bucky cocked his head and stared at him. He wouldn’t qualify Steve as someone harmless, not with that build and his spit-and-polish military bearing and precisely ironed dress shirt, despite the fact that his shoulders were hunched slightly and a flush was crawling across his cheeks.

“So, um, can I buy you a drink?” Steve said, his eyes widening in hope. “It’s kind of hard to get the bartender’s attention but I think he felt sorry for me because we both thought you’d stood me up.”

Steve stood up and held up his hand, waving it to get Clint’s attention. Clint looked at Bucky and then winked at Steve and nodded to him.

“How long were you waiting?”

“Not long. Um, over an hour,” Steve said, settling back on the stool and grinning sheepishly at him. “Worth the wait. I’m glad you showed.” He gave a little shrug and looked at Bucky. “I guess it was kind of desperate of me to keep waiting? I mean, maybe you didn’t really want to meet me, but I guess you changed your mind and came anyway?”  

Bucky sighed, realizing that Steve had mistaken him for what sounded like a blind date. Who the hell would stand up Steve? He was gorgeous and didn’t seem to be a douchebag, at least, not that Bucky could tell. The night was young and this was turning out to be an interesting part of his “journey.”

He decided to see this through. “Sorry for making you wait, doll; who’d skip out on a date with you?”

Steve laughed and ran a hand over his hair. “Yeah, well, I’m really out of practice at this kind of thing. If you can’t already tell.”

“You’re doing all right,” Bucky said, smiling at him. “How long have you been out?”

Steve opened his mouth and then blinked a few times at him. “Um, excuse me?”

“Out of the service?” Bucky said, gesturing to Steve’s hair. “That’s a high and tight that’s grown out.”

“Oh!” Steve said, letting out a nervous laugh. He ran his hand over his hair again. “Yeah. I thought…never mind what I thought. Yeah. I was discharged about six months ago.”

“Special teams?” He said, looking at Steve carefully.

Steve gave Bucky a steady look. “How can you tell?”

“One duck can tell another duck in the same water,” he said, smirking slightly. “I was discharged on medical about three months ago.”

Bucky lifted his left shoulder, giving an awkward shrug. The prosthetic was state-of-the-art, a new biomecha arm that Stark Industries was beta testing on a handful of military vets. It was as near lifelike as a prosthetic could get to being like the real thing. Tony Stark had fitted his arm himself; a part of Bucky was still a bit star struck by the genius engineer, who had a deep sense of patriotism that didn’t make the tabloid sheets and a bawdy sense of humor that did. He liked Stark a lot and was glad to be one of his test subjects. Bucky had the option to get it skinned to look realistic, but he had asked to keep it unskinned, the silver metallic look of the arm speaking to his old love of science fiction.

Steve glanced at his left arm and then gave Bucky a small smile. “Welcome home, soldier.”

“Sergeant.”

“Welcome home, Sergeant Bucky.”

Bucky chuckled, feeling the edges of his mouth lift into his cheeks. It felt odd on his face; an old memory that was coming back to him. It had been a long time since he smiled and used those muscles.

“Thanks. What about you?”

“Captain. Army. I was with the 107th.”

Bucky frowned slightly. “I had some buddies on special teams in the 1-0-7. Ever heard of the Howling Commandos?”  

“They’re my men. Were, I mean, now that I’m retired.”

“You’re Captain Steve Rogers?” Bucky said, sitting up straight and looking at him. “The boys had a nickname for you.”

Steve grinned and shook his head. “Yeah. Captain America.”

“Damn, sir, you’re a living legend, Cap,” he said, smiling at Steve. “I feel like I need to salute you.”

“No, no, don’t sir me or salute me,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m a civvie now, just like you.”

“You boys ready to for drinks?” Clint said, leaning his hands on the edge of the bar and smirking at them. “Your boy finally show up, Rogers?” He gave Bucky a look over. “He’s a fine one, worth the wait, huh?”

“Clint, this is Bucky,” Steve said, rolling his eyes. “Bucky, this is Clint. He’s a smartass, just ignore him.”

“So, gents, what’ll it be?”

They both ordered beers from the tap and Clint grinned from ear to ear, looking at the two of them. Bucky noticed that at the other end of the bar, a few people were waving their hands, trying to get Clint’s attention.

“He’s deaf,” Bucky finally figured out, getting a look at the hearing aid in Clint’s right ear.

“Hold your horses!” Clint called down the bar. “I can hear you waving at me, for god’s sake!”

Steve smiled and nodded. “He’s really good at reading lips. Honestly, I think he can hear pretty well, but he just likes messing with people.”

Bucky laughed, finding that funny. He liked Clint a lot; liked knowing that a disability wasn’t something to pity.

“He’s good people, one of us,” Steve said, meaningfully.

Ahhh…a vet then, like them. Bucky nodded his thanks when Clint delivered their drinks, then hurried down to the other end of the bar, joking with the patrons and pretending to mishear whatever it was that they said. There was a lot of rollicking laughter. Bucky looked down to the other end to see a tall man with long blond hair, throwing his head back with a deep, booming laugh.

“That’s Thor, the owner,” Steve said, looking over his shoulder, a fond grin on his face. “He’s a great guy. He can get kind of huggy, but it kind of works for him.”

“Steven!” Thor called, walking towards them, his arms in the air.

Steve got to his feet and was immediately engulfed in Thor’s arms, lifted off his feet in a hearty hug. Thor Odinson was about a half a foot taller than Steve and built even wider at the shoulders. He was dressed in a tailored black suit and dark red shirt. The long hair and dress clothes suited the man; his natural charisma seemed to fill the space around him, giving him the air of a happily guileless and gentle giant.

“Friend Steven! It is good to see you again!”

“Thanks Thor,” Steve said, gasping slightly, reaching back to thump heartily on Thor’s back. “Good to see you too, big guy.”

Bucky got to his feet and gave a wary smile when Thor put Steve down. He smiled widely at Bucky and then looked at Steve.

“I see that your plan to make a new beau has come to fruition! He is very handsome to look upon,” Thor announced, patting Steve on the back and nearly knocking him off his feet. “I would like to meet your beau.”

“Um…sure. This is Bucky…?”

“Barnes,” he said, holding out his hand. “Bucky Barnes. Nice to meet you, Thor.”

“The pleasure is mine, friend Bucky. I hope that you will patronage my restaurant again in the future. It is good to have more shield brothers under my roof,” Thor said, shaking Bucky’s hand in a firm, but friendly, grip. “You will have to stay and try my special. It is the fried herring in pickling liquor. A masterful recipe, if I may claim such a thing.”

Bucky turned to see Steve’s face turn a bit green and he held back a laugh.

“Uhhhh…okay?” Steve mumbled, looking panicked at Bucky.

“Thor, it sounds utterly delightful, but my stomach is still getting used to civilian foods after eating MREs for a year,” Bucky said, shyly. “I think the only risky thing I could take right now is just a simple burger.”

Thor nodded, understandingly. “Of course, friend Bucky; but later, when you have returned to your full gastronomical strength, you have to try some of my best fares.”

Bucky chuckled. “No doubt.”

Steve slipped him a pleased smile.

“Good,” Thor said, nodding at them. “I must check on my other patrons. If you require a table for your evening meal, I will ask Darcy to find a romantic spot for the two of you.”

“Roman—what? No, it’s okay, Thor,” Steve bumbled out, laughing nervously.

“Ah! I forget that you are a man of discretion and valor, friend Steven,” Thor said, uproariously. “Fear not, we will find a special place for you. Have a fair eve, my friends!”

And then Thor was off, regaling other patrons with his unique blend of non-filtered conversational delights.

Steve sighed, his shoulders sagging, giving Bucky a nervous grin. “You…get used to him?”

“I like him,” Bucky announced, smiling at the way Steve grinned at him, pleased with Bucky’s verdict. “I like it here a lot. I…I have a hard time going to public places and my VA support group suggested that I come here to ‘Hammer’ because it’s a vet-friendly place. I wasn’t going to come, but I’m glad that I did.”

“I’m glad, too,” Steve said, smiling shyly at Bucky.

“I should come clean about something, though,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’m not the guy that you were waiting for. I’m not your blind date, Steve.”

Steve nodded and took that calmly. He didn’t even seem mad or disturbed by Bucky’s confession. “I should tell you something, too. I wasn’t waiting for a blind date.” 

Bucky raised his eyebrow. “But then how did you know my name was James?”

Steve barked out an incredulous laugh. “I just took a guess on a popular boy’s name! It was either that or I was going with Michael.”

He made a face and laughed. “Terrible choice. I don’t even look like a Michael. What was your next move if my name wasn’t Jimmy?”

“Oh…I was just…going to keep faking it and draw you in with my flirting skills,” Steve said, deadpan.

Bucky laughed and then reached out with his right hand and curled it over Steve’s shoulder, giving him an affectionate squeeze. He took a deep breath and stood straight, looking into Steve’s very pretty blue eyes.

He held out his hand. “My name is James Buchanan Barnes, but my friends call me Bucky.”

Steve shook his hand and held on. “Steve Rogers. I hope that I’ll be someone who’ll earn the right to call you friend.”

Bucky grinned and winked at him. “Maybe more…if you’re lucky.”

Steve chuckled and nodded. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, smiling at him. “Yeah, I really would.”


End file.
